No. 5 Syracuse Relentless on 'O', and 'D' Stifles No. 20 Cornell

Gniewek made five saves in the second half even though the game was moved to a running clock, and she ended the afternoon with a save percentage of .467. The Orange outshot Cornell overall 38-12.

"I was seeing the ball pretty well, and it was exciting to be in the Dome," Gniewek said. "We let a bunch in, but we came together after each one. We did well at sliding, we did well on defense, we did well collapsing on every shot, and we never gave up. That says a lot about our team."

Syracuse controlled the game from the outset, scoring twice in the first 150 seconds to take a 2-0 lead that it would never relinquish. A Brittany Marriott yellow card gave the Orange a man-up situation shortly after that, and they struck seconds into it to go ahead 3-0 less than four minutes into the contest.

The Orange extended its lead to 5-0 with 17 minutes left in the first half, but the Big Red started a brief run after that.

Following a long possession with multiple passes, Tripodi got the ball behind the net. Lang was cutting through the middle of the fan, and Tripodi found her for the goal with 12:42 left in the half.

Just 46 seconds later, Tripodi was on the receiving end of a pass from Lauren Halpern on the left side of the net. Syracuse goalie Kelsey Richardson had come out of her net too far to make a play on the ball, and Tripodi found an angle immediately to shave the Orange's lead down to three.

The Orange got the last four goals of the half, though, sandwiched around three saves by Gniewek. During that stretch, Gniewek set a new career high with nine saves – all in the first 27 minutes – but the Orange continued to get shots on goal and went ahead 9-2 heading into the break.

The Syracuse scoring run did not stop there. After halftime, the Orange put the next four goals on the scoreboard and led 13-2. Lang tallied the Big Red's third goal shortly after that with an assist from Lindsay Toppe, cutting the home team's lead to 10 with 20 minutes showing on the clock.

That would prove to be Cornell's last goal for 18 minutes, though. With a running clock, Syracuse scored three more times to reach its final total of 16 goals. Rachel Moody scored the final Big Red goal of the game, taking a pass from Toppe and bouncing a shot off the turf and into the net.

The Big Red returns to action on Saturday at Yale. Cornell would clinch a spot in the Ivy League Tournament with a victory against the Bulldogs at 1:00 p.m.

"Yale's a huge game, and we're really excited for that," Gniewek said. "This helps me out, knowing that I can make those saves against a top team."